Home Growing Will Put Kids In Danger, Fuel Black Market: Canada's Conservative Party

Canada’s Conservative Party is still trying to nudge home growing out of the Liberals’ Bill C-45 – also known as the Cannabis Act – based on claims it would lead to a heightened risk of children getting high.

This week, Conservative health critic and Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu – who has advocated tirelessly against the provision that would permit up to four cannabis plants per household – motioned for an amendment that would forbid Canadians from keeping “any cannabis plant in their dwelling house.”

“This is one of the most troubling sections of this whole bill. This is the part where the 88 percent of Canadians who don’t use marijuana are going to be impacted,” Gladu said early last month.

“You could have up to 600 grams of marijuana hanging around in the house ... This definitely is not going to keep it out of the hands of children.”

Speaking of children, some may remember Gladu’s outlandish – and instantly meme-worthy– remarks in the House of Commons this past summer, when she indicated that having cannabis plants in the home would allow “little Johnny [to] put some in the toaster oven and smoke it up.”

The sheer ridiculousness of that statement aside, all this hand-wringing over the possibility of kids getting stoned does beg the question: does allowing people to grow their own cannabis lead to easier access for children?

That certainly hasn’t been the case in Colorado, where residents are permitted to grow up to six plants and the rate of teen cannabis use didn’t budge following legalization.

It’s not just children the Conservatives are concerned about, however – or so they say.

In October, Gladu expressed her concern that Bill C-45 in its current form could result in a new black market for cannabis growers.

“Organized crime does get into home grow,” she said.

“'This is problematical for all the Canadians that don’t want these unintended consequences.”

As a majority government, of course, the Liberals don’t need the Conservatives’ support on Bill C-45. That doesn’t mean the Tories will stop advocating against it, however.

“We’re going to continue to criticize this bill as it moves forward and point that out to Canadians,” said Conservative leader Andrew Scheer.